Country women on a roll

Page Tools

Some early risers were alarmed to note that yesterday, other than being
International Midwives' Day and the midpoint of both National Heart and
Mothering weeks, was also the day set aside on the recipe calendar published by
the Country Women's Association for the preparation of "Rabbit Swiss Roll".
This might have been a dish more appropriate for Sorry Day - coming soon in the
post-mothering phase of the month - with "sorry" being perhaps all that could
be said to anyone served a steaming portion of a curious conglomeration that
combined concentric layers of stewed lagomorph, cake and raspberry conserve, a
combination prepared, one assumes, with an eye to the high time pressure of the
modern rural lifestyle. First catch your Swiss . . . Victorian public life was
otherwise dominated by continuing discussion of the state budget, a fact that
completely obscured at least one other significant policy initiative also
announced during Tuesday afternoon's Legislative Assembly sitting, that being a
new plan to give carers of the disabled free access to a variety of
entertainment venues. The initiative has received the enthusiastic support of
the AFL, clearly with an eye to doubling attendance at future Western Bulldogs
fixtures. It may also be enough to ensure statutory majorities in the
Legislative Council, which would be a boon to the future progress of Government
legislation.

AdvertisementAdvertisement

Brekkie, but what about the workers?

No such inducements were required to ensure a full house when Premier Bracks
and Treasurer Brumby addressed grass-roots representatives of the labour
movement at a $200-a-head budget briefing breakfast in the Grand Hyatt's Savoy
Ballroom. Absent was ACTU chief Greg Combet, who instead proceeded directly to
the 39th floor of Nauru House and the performance space occupied by the
Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Representatives of workers and
employers had gathered to hear the full bench of the commission deliver its
verdict on a new minimum wage, a still meagre stipend, Combet would later argue,
that laid its recipients open to the many manifestations of working poverty. He
did not mention Rabbit Swiss Roll by name, but we got his drift. We waited on an
answer to that most nagging of questions: how many members of the Australian
Industrial Relations Commission does it take to hand down a minimum wage
decision? The answer to which is seven, though only one gets to talk. Precisely
which one remained unclear for the moment or two it took commission president
Geoffrey Giudice to actually lift his head and reveal a pair of moving lips. He
went on to announce a wage rise of $19, almost twice as large as that argued by
employers, and just over half of that argued by the ACTU, a gesture subsequently
decried by employer representatives, a group that may momentarily have been
heartened by Mr Giudice's appearance in a raffish bowtie striped in the colours
of the Melbourne Football Club. Another myth dispelled.

Ace of clubs for king of quiz?

The juxtaposition of Melbourne and Club may soon have a more familiar ring
for 1967 Scandinavian quiz champion and former ALP president Barry Jones,
understood to be currently under consideration for membership of the Melbourne
Club, an arcane process instigated by third parties and often completed
unbeknown to the ultimate recipient of membership. As Jones put it yesterday:
"What happens is not in one's hands . . . you'd have to say the process is
mysterious." Who's Who lists no clubs for Jones at present, though it does
document his interest in autographs and ancient metal work. "I used to be a
member of the RACV," he ventured. Hardly the same thing.